Lynden is recognizing employees who make a difference every day on the job and demonstrate our core values, Lynden's very own everyday heroes! Employees are nominated by managers and supervisors from all roles within the Lynden family of companies.
Introducing Perry Spradlin, Construction Mechanic at Knik Construction in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. 
Name: Perry Spradlin
Company: Knik Construction
Title: Construction Mechanic
Location: Dutch Harbor, AK
On the Job Since: 1993
Superpower: Longevity
Hometown: Carbondale, CO
Favorite Movie: Forrest Gump
Bucket List Destination: Fiji
For Fun: Spending time with family and woodworking
How and when did you start working for Lynden?
Knik Construction was doing a joint venture project in Dillingham, AK, in the 1990s. I was working for the other company on an apron expansion. The following year in 1993, Knik Construction was working on the ore storage building for Red Dog Mine, and I was offered a job there. At that time, I was working with guys like Jim Kirsch, Ray Henrichs, Neil Arthur, Garry Barney, and Greg Kelley.
What is a typical day like for you?
My work for Knik Construction is seasonal, so I show up for work in April and go home in October, or, at the latest, November 1 if we are not doing winter work. When I report to work, I drive to Anchorage from my home in Seward, then out to wherever we’re going.
We work between 70 and 84 hours a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. We need to work hard to get projects done while we have a weather window. Being in camp during the summer is a unique experience. They feed you well, and you have a nice place to stay. Some of the places we’ve stayed in the villages have been more remote, so accommodations are different. Sometimes we stay in apartments or houses.
We are currently working on an asphalt mill in Dutch Harbor. We paved the Alaska Marine Lines service center here as well and will be doing the apron at the airport. Dutch Harbor is busy right now with fishing season. There are a lot of cannery workers in town. We are staying at an 8-person camp with some of the crew in apartments in town.
What has been most challenging in your career?
Getting parts for machinery or other things that break down. If you don’t have it with you, it takes awhile to get it. We’re pretty lucky to have the weekly barge in Dutch Harbor, and parts can be flown in too.
What are you most proud of in your career?
The Nightmute project is a project I am proud of. We built a runway in the village near Bethel over a two-year period and involved a lot of the community. They had a big potlatch at the end.
More recently, I was part of the Kipnuk and Chefornak projects. We built a gravel road in the winter, so we reported to work in January when it was good and cold and the ground was frozen hard. We pulled the gravel for a winter haul to a stockpile for use later in the year.
Can you tell us about your family and growing up years?
I was born in Colorado. Carbondale was a small town, so everybody played sports in school. I did a lot of fishing and hunting as a kid. We ate more deer and elk than beef. I am still in touch with high school friends. I earned a degree in mechanics at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, CO after high school.
Eventually, my dad moved to Alaska to work for Aleutian Dragon Fisheries in Chignik, so I ended up there. I started unloading boats at 19 years old, and I also worked for a cannery for awhile in Alaska. It was fun.
At 21, I went to Dillingham and worked for B&J Construction, then shortly after, started working for Knik Construction. I lived in Sterling for 10 years and then moved to Seward.
I have three children – two boys and a girl – ages 29, 27, and 34. I also have an 18-month-old grandson. Two of my kids live in Seward and one lives in Oklahoma. I have a sister who is in Vancouver, B.C.
What was your first job?
I worked for my grandfather at a cattle ranch in the panhandle in Oklahoma every summer starting when I was about 11. It was more of a feed lot; nothing romantic, but he had about 1,000 head of cattle. I was with my cousins every year. I had a really close relationship with my grandparents. They were like second parents to me. Our jobs depended on whether Grandpa was mad at you or not. If he was mad, you got the ‘idiot stick,’ a weed chopper. That was the worst. The best was sitting in the tractor driving around. At 12 I started driving a truck loaded with wheat from the field to the grain elevator. He sold the ranch when I was in my 20s.
What would surprise most people about you?
I worked underground in a longwall coal mine in Red Stone, CO. I was the oiler on a 1,000-foot-long hydraulic jack. It was just as you might imagine; very dark down there with the only light what you have from your cap lamp. I was there for 18 months and then realized it was a pretty dangerous job and decided to look for other jobs.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I usually spend time outside, visit with family, and do a little woodworking.
What do you like best about your job?
It’s always nice when you get done and can look at what you’ve built with a source of pride. I’ve been here for so long that I have built a lot of relationships with the crew. Talk about a great bunch of people! When I started there were only about 10 of us, and we had a few projects a year. Now the company has grown, and we do a lot more technical projects in more locations.
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